Amongst The Anarchy
by TheGreengrassSisters
Summary: After being fired, Hermione vows to overthrow the ministry and enlists the help of Draco Malfoy to bring about the revolution which everyone is crying out for. Post-Hogwarts. Dramione DM/HG, Bluna BZ/LL, Hinny HP/GW
1. Chapter 1

A/N Ahh yes, a new story. To all ye who are new to my account; welcome! To all ye who read The Future Project; I am so, so sorry for not updating for a year… The Future Project is under major renovations right now and I hope it will be returning to your screens in the not so distant future, some of the chapters (especially the very early ones and the latest few) are being rewritten slightly and once I finish that some new ones should appear! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new story- Amongst the Anarchy:

_The wizarding world is under a new Minister. Things have changed. After the murder of George Lockwheeler, the former minister of magic, England was in anarchy. Many believed that death eaters were rising up again. Amongst the panic a new leader arose, one who promised freedom and safety for all, one who promised a world where the unfaithful strived and the faithful thrived, one who promised a better world. The wizarding world was in such a state that they immediately warmed to this new leader and was thrilled when a few years back they read in the Daily Prophet that he was the new Minister of Magic. 'Time for a better world' the papers had read that morning. But how wrong they were, how wrong indeed._

The sharp rain flooded the dirty streets of Diagon Alley. The people sitting on the sides of the road pulled their thin jackets around their head and pushed their money pot further out onto the pavement, in hope that some sympathetic wealthy person might drop a Knut or two into it. But not many of those wealthy people remained now. After the war celebrations were over much had changed, and not for the better.

A man with shocking blond hair knocked on a large wooden door.

"What do you want?" Answered a voice coming from the inside.

"Work. Anything, I'll take anything," Begged the man, "I'll work for very little, please,"

The oak door opened slightly. "Show me your arm," Ordered the voice.

"Sir, plea-"

"I said; show me your arm," Without warning the man behind the door viscously grabbed the blond man's left arm and shoved up his wet sleeve to reveal his forearm, a moment later the arm was forcefully released followed by a loud: "Get out,"

"Sir, please, I beg of you,"

"Get out before I get Bagarre," The man warned. The blond man trembled, Bagarre Fowle was an officer for the new ministry, he was feared by both men and women alike and made it his duty to scare all those below him. He despised beggars and the poor and had absolutely no respect for anyone other than the new minister of magic. Knowing that, his threat sent the other man to silence- he continued, "What is your name?"

There was silence. "Draco Malfoy, sir," The blond man answered at last. There was no reply from the man, but what seemed like a lifetime later the grand oak door opened fully. The man, who was adorning a dirty brown waistcoat and loose-fitting trousers, grinned showing his decaying teeth and mangled tongue.

"Draco Malfoy," The ugly man snickered before taking a puff from his cigar, "I'd give up looking for work if I were you Draco Malfoy, no one around 'ere will 'ave you. Disgrace to our people," The man spat at Draco's feet and slammed the door on his face.

Draco checked the clock that hung above Gringott's bank and sighed; he had ten minutes until his weekly visit to Saint Mungo's hospital. As he walked towards his destination he went through his day in his mind. All his attempts to find work had proved unsuccessful, one look at the God forsaken ink staining his left forearm and all potential employers would curse the ground he stood on then send him on his way, yet everyday he would attempt to find work all the same, that's what he had been doing the whole day, and not much else.

Not long later he found himself in the reception of Saint Mungo's. Like everything else in the wizarding world Saint Mungo's looked well worn out, cream paint was peeling off the walls and dry mould was spreading like fire across the floors and the doors. The employees matched their surroundings, each of them looking like the walking dead with pale, dry skin, chapped lips and dirty hands and hair. Obviously the patients looked even worse. So much had changed in the last two years. Draco walked up the stairs made of rotting wood up to the top floor named; 'The Mental Health Clinic' and walked up to room 273. Without knocking he shook out his wet hair and trudged into the room.

In the middle of the room a sick looking man lay fidgeting with a quill. Beside him sat a healer who was regularly dabbing his head with a cold flannel.

"Son," The man looked up from the bed and stared at his visitor, he tried to muster up enough energy to give a smile but was unsuccessful.

"Don't 'son' me, Lucius," Draco bit back.

"You are my son so I shall call you son," Lucius Malfoy was the image of the mighty fallen, his usually sleek blonde hair was matted with tendrils that plastered his gaunt face whilst the bright silver of his eyes had dulled into a murky grey. The classic condescending expression that had haunted Draco's childhood, however, still adorned the old man's face- seven stints in Azkaban apparently hadn't knocked the arrogance out of the elder Malfoy.

"We may be born of the same blood, yes, but that does not make you my Father," Retorted Draco, "You have disgraced our family, we have had our fortune stripped and our name has been branded forever as untrustworthy. I have to look for jobs on the street every single day, and no one will have me because of you,"

"You make it sound like you're the only one who can't get a job, Draco," Lucius replied calmly, "No one can. The daily prophet has written plenty of articles about it recently- unemployment has risen 30% since last year or something. Everyone is out on the streets looking for jobs, if you're going to blame anyone, blame that good for nothing new minister of magic, take all your problems to him."

"Like he would listen, we both know he won't help us," Draco snapped.

"Why are you here?"

"To pay for this week's medication, like a do every damn week," He responded.

"If you claim to despise me so much, why do you insist on paying for my medication?" Asked Lucius, "Why not let me die?"

Choosing to ignore his Father Draco removed ten galleons from his pocket and gave it to the nurse, stating it was to pay for his potion and vowing to return the next week to pay for the next batch. Few other words were said before Draco left, Lucius had fallen unconscious like he regularly did due to the nature of his illness and for that Draco was thankful as it meant he didn't need to bid his former Father farewell before departing. Draco made it up half way across the corridor before a voice stopped him.

"Wait, Mister Malfoy," Draco turned around to see Lucius' nurse standing in front of him holding quill and some parchment.

"What?" Draco snapped impatiently.

"I needed to ask you a question," She said quietly, slightly intimidated by the dirty looking but obviously muscular man. Draco looked at her and prompted her to go on by sighing loudly and moving his hand in a circular motion. "Okay, well, about your Father," Draco shot her a warning look, "Sorry, I meant Lucius... Well, sometimes when unconscious he says, well he mumbles really,"

"Hurry up nurse women, I haven't got all day,"

"Right, yes, sorry, sure, I'll go on, yes, right, well, Lucius mumbles potion ingredients sometimes when he is unconscious, I have jotted them down and have checked all potion records and no potions include the ingredients he has listed,"

"And your point is?"

"I was wondering if he was listing ingredients to a potion that a member of your family has created but hasn't officially been listed, I really want to find out what this potion is because I think it would aid his recovery. Here is a list of the ingredients he often says,"

Draco took the parchment the nurse was holding out to him and skimmed the list; from first look he didn't recognise the brew. "Why should I waste my valuable time trying to work this out?"

"You don't have to, sir. But if you do find some time, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you mister Malfoy, I will see you next week."

_**Back at the house at which Draco asked for a job earlier**_

"Who was that, Artemellus?" Asked a young women, aged around twenty-seven, wearing a clean white shirt and a tight, knee-length blue skirt. She was drinking a light brown beverage which one could only presume (or hope) was tea.

"Ex-death eater, wanted to work 'ere, told 'im to sod off," chortled the gross man, apparently named Artemellus.

"Anyone who I might know?"

"Draco Malfoy, pretty sure you've 'eard of 'im,"

The girl spat out her tea onto her white shirt and groaned at the mess she'd made before exclaiming: "Draco Malfoy! Begging for work! Holy cricket what has the world come to?"

"The Malfoy family got stripped of all their galleons, left 'em knutless!" Replied Artemellus, who couldn't help but wear a little smug grin as he describe the Malfoy misfortune. "Now they 'ave to find work in this stupid place like the rest of us, only being an ex-death eater makes things a little bit 'arder,"

"At least we have jobs," Sighed the girl.

"Speaking o' money, you owe me this month's rent!"

"I can give it to you tomorrow, I swear, the ministry are making cut backs and my department gets hit the most!" Exclaimed the girl.

"By tomorrow, or you're out on the streets, I gotta make a living too 'ermione!"

"By tomorrow, I swear." She sighed. Hermione Granger had returned to Hogwarts after the war to repeat her final year, as she knew good results would help her get a job in the ministry. After leaving school she was quickly headhunted by Kingsley Shacklebolt and was his apprentice for three and a half years, before he tragically died whilst on a mission. However, following his death, she was offered a job at the ministry as a 'junior Auror' and was quickly promoted to 'experienced Auror' only a year later. Once the new minister came into power her department was drastically reduced, 90% of all Aurors were fired as the new minister believed that they were not needed any longer but a few needed to be kept for purely precautionary reasons; that was the only time Hermione Granger was actually thankful for Rita Skeeter. As for when the minister had gathered the auror department into a small meeting room to tell them who he was firing Hermione noticed a small beetle sitting on top of the table, both the minister and Hermione shared a knowing look as they had both recognised the beetle to be Rita Skeeter in her animagus form, Hermione swore that Rita was the reason the minister did not fire her- there would have been outrage if the public had found out the minister had fired the femme fatale of the golden trio.

Now, two years later here she was, working at an extremely low salary, struggling to get by in the horrific new world the Minister of Magic had created. She had considered going back to the muggle world, but having no muggle qualifications would leave her with no job at all she made the difficult decision of staying put.

But amongst her low wage and dirty, rented room above Artemellus' pub she did have some happiness in her life. Harry and Ginny had married earlier that year and had a child on the way; they were living comfortably in a small wizarding town near Oxford, living off the money the old ministry had given them as a thank you gift after the war. She had been offered the same but gracefully declined it. Ronald was doing less well, but compared to the majority of the people in Magical England he had a rather pleasant life. He had bought a small farm shop in Hogsmeade which kept and sold chickens, he really liked chicken. He would often ask Hermione out to dinner but she was insistent on keeping it as a friendly affair, nothing romantic. Other than those three Hermione had lost contact with everyone else from Hogwarts, occasionally she would receive a letter from Luna, who had moved to Italy, describing her Italian antics but other than that the Hogwarts years were really a thing of the past. Her only other friend was Meredith, a tall girl with dirty blond beach waves and deep green eyes to die for, they had met at work and had immediately clicked; they spent most of their time discussing Jane Austen novels, which suited them just fine. And then there was Artemellus, her landlord, who was a ghastly man with no sense of personal space or personal hygiene. Every night he would bring in the wealthy men of London and get them to try some of his special Firewhiskey (the special bit was that it was 90% vegetable oil that had been used to cook the chips, not that Artemellus would ever admit that to anyone) and when the wealthy men were sufficiently inebriated her would rob them of their treasures and send them out onto the street. Having Artemellus as your landlord did come with some perks, however. If Hermione was having a bad day he would leave a butterbeer outside her room, and sometimes a free butterbeer can turn a bad day into a pretty darn good day. Artemellus Fletcher was alright.

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	2. Chapter 2

There were only five aurors left in the ministry. Herself, Harry, Ron, Meredith, and Aaron Levison. Aaron _Jerome_ Levison was the epitome of perfection. His hair was a rich brown and his eyes were a startling blue. His jawline was so strong Hermione often wondered if he had travelled back in time to the 16th century to model for Michelangelo's 'David'. He was the main topic of conversation amongst the girls in the ministry, especially when he did something significant like cut his hair, wear a tight top, bend over to pick up his pen, or breath. However, despite looking like the love-child of Zeus and Leonardo di Caprio, Hermione found it hard to trust him. His Father was the Minister's best friend and the Ministry painted everywhere he went with gold. Although Hermione didn't particularly trust him it didn't stop her from finding him devilishly charming. He was a hard worker too, a very good auror indeed, everyone in that office was good at what they did and nothing satisfied Hermione more than the silent sound of hard word.

The silence of the hard working office was broken when a tall, spindly woman named Nancy entered the room, wearing her usual expression which made her look like she was in great pain.

"Just so you know, we have a meeting in two minutes," she said in an infuriatingly obnoxious voice which made Hermione want to rip out her scalp every time the black haired beast uttered even a syllable.

"What! Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Hermione almost shrieked.

"I'm going to be honest, I probably forgot," Nancy replied, not really putting much thought into her answer. She shrugged and then excited the office. Hermione and Meredith rolled their eyes and laughed when they saw the other do the same thing. The five of them then quickly packed up folders and parchment for the impromptu meeting and rushed off to where they supposed the meeting would be held.

They hastily entered the room and sat down in their seats, everyone was staring at them. Hermione looked around the room containing every member of the Auror department and cursed under her breath when she saw the Minister of Magic himself sitting in a leather chair at the head of the table.

"Ah, our precious aurors have arrived. How pleasant of you to join us," he said whilst he glared at the tardy group, "Sorry, was this meeting scheduled at a bad time for you? Next time please do tell me so I can change the time of it, because, after all, I base my whole life around you people. I would be devastated if you weren't happy. In fact, I think everyone in this blasted ministry should rearrange their entire schedule so that it pleases you, don't you think?" His voice was thick with sarcasm and his eyes were sending daggers to the pair of them. The five aurors all looked down at the table below them, neither of them saying a word. "Don't you think?" The minister repeated, this time more forcefully.

"No, sir," they murmured in unison.

"Then try to turn up on time, for once," he shouted loudly, causing the whole room to shake. Inside Hermione was fuming, she was never late. She was only late today because of that blasted Nancy and her infuriatingly forgetful mind. However she kept quiet, she needed to keep her job after all, "Good," He continued, "Now that's out of the way I have an announcement, the ministry is spending too much money on pointless things, so after close analysis of the defence department we have decided to fire some aurors, savvy?" A shocked gasp echoed around the room from the whole of the defence department.

This was the last straw for Hermione, "Excuse me, sir, but Aurors are the most valuable people in the whole ministry, why are we getting hit the hardest?"

The silence was deafening. The Minister of Magic glowered at her, his left eye twitching ever so slightly. At last he spoke. "Don't flatter yourself. Aurors are the least valuable in the ministry, we simply have no need for them anymore,"

"What! That's nonsense! There are still plenty of death eaters who aren't locked up yet. Who's going to protect the people?" She was losing her temper now, forgetting that her job was everything, forgetting that if she was fired she would be out on the streets.

"That's why we have street officers now! They will stop any crimes,"

"And what about all this extra money that the ministry is making? Where's it all going?" She asked fiercely.

"I have made my announcement, and that's the end of it. Meeting dismissed. Granger stay behind, you and I need to have a little chat," Everyone in the room quickly left, careful not to disturb the minister to save their own necks. Hermione sat grudgingly in her chair, waiting for the minister to start shouting at her. He walked slowly up to her and then stopped right behind her back.

"If I were you I'd hold my tongue," He began, "If I were you I wouldn't be where I'm not wanted. If I were you I'd keep my head down and work. That's what I'd do if I valued my job." He fell silent for a moment, "You may leave."

She hastily left the office, it took all she had in her not to slam the door in protest. In all honesty, she was scared. Without the bizarre protection that Rita Skeeter gave her last time there was no saying whether she would be able to keep her job or not.

She was greeted with sympathetic smiles when she entered the office but she quickly told them that it was nothing and that she wasn't in trouble, they quickly let the topic drop and they all returned to their work. Trying to banish thoughts of the disastrous meeting from her head she picked up the letter Luna had sent her earlier and began reading it. She found it highly amusing, her obscure charm translated onto paper beautifully and it cheered her up immensely. She read all the way down to the bottom, chuckling at something funny she had written about walking into the men's bathroom. Then two words a couple of lines below caught her eye, two words she didn't really expect to see in one of Luna's letters, 'Blaise Zabini'. In confusion she read the sentence that included those two lines; 'By the way, I went on a date with Blaise Zabini' it read. Hermione gasped loudly, dropping the letter slightly melodramatically onto the desk causing Aaron to peer over with a questioning look on his face, she waved him off. She'd always thought that Luna was a bit bizarre but she never expected her to date a man whom she expected to grow up to have a successful career in stripping! She didn't have long to ponder over the strange letter as Nancy returned to office full of aurors holding three white envelopes. Although she still had an expression of disgust adorning her face even Nancy looked a little sympathetic as she lay the three letters down on the communal table by the office door. Hermione knew what each letter had in store and was certain one was addressed to her. Merlin, she wouldn't be surprised if all three were addressed to her, just so the minister could belittle her one more time.

"Who wants to get them?" Asked Harry as the five aurors all stared at the envelopes from their desks as if they each contained an angry red cap.

"I'll do it," Aaron volunteered. He was the obvious choice- seeing as his job was more or less secure. The Minister adored Aaron as much as he seemed to adore cake, and judging by the Minister's round belly it seemed he was rather partial to a moist Victoria Sponge. Nonetheless, Hermione noticed that Aaron seemed quite nervous. He picked up the first envelope. "I'm really sorry." He said as he walked toward Meredith's desk. Meredith smiled sadly and took the letter. She opened it and confirmed everyone's worst fear. Redundancy. Aaron picked up the next letter and sighed, somewhat angrily. He gave it to Hermione.

She couldn't describe how she felt. She compared the feeling to queueing for lunch at the ministries canteen on lamb broth day, although she would spend the whole day praying they wouldn't overcook the meat she didn't feel let down or disappointed when the chewy stew inevitably slopped onto her plate. She supposed she would never have to eat that meal again; there were some positives to losing your job. Ron's shocked gasp broke her thoughts. She looked up and saw Aaron hand the last letter to Harry. The whole room was in shock. They couldn't fire Harry Potter. They couldn't fire the national treasure, the boy who lived, war hero, quidditch star's husband, and general philanthropist Harry Potter. The ministry would never get away with this, this time tomorrow the public would be revolting and drawing scars on their foreheads in protest!

"Bloody hell," Ron swore. "The Daily Prophet will have something to say about this!"

"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked as she looked at the man who was obviously in deep shock.

"Someone had to go," he said, sadly. "Are you?" Hermione smiled in answer.

"Why don't we all get a drink?" Hermione said when the room descended into a melancholy silence. Harry said that he ought to get home to Ginny but the other three cheerfully accepted, looking forward to downing a glass of whiskey to take the edge off the day.

Three hours and three rounds later the four of them sat round a table at Artemellus' pub, absolutely plastered.

"You could do it ya'know, Mione." Slurred Ron.

"Do what, Ronald Weasley?" Hermione elongated the word 'Weasley' to an almost ridiculous length, as if it were the best word in the world.

"Take them down. The ministry!" Ron replied.

"I could!" Hermione laughed, "Plan a revolution, go full on Les Miserables on them!"

Ron did not know what Les Miserables was but he chuckled anyway.

"Why not?" Hermione continued, "I have the brains, I have the motive, I have good connections, I could tear them apart piece by piece. But I will need an accomplice."

"I'll help."

"No Ronald." Hermione protested, "You are not the right choice. I can work that out later. I need to know what I am going to do!"

Five minutes later Hermione found herself standing on a table with a crowd of balding, middle aged men cheering and drinking to her every word. She described her plans for rebellion, how she was going to 'create a better world'. She was shouting when Bagarre Fowle entered Artemellus' pub.

The room went silent. Bagarre Fowle was the kind of man who would kill a sheep just to use its wool. His regime of unnecessary violence struck fear into the hearts of the people, and his militaristic methods did not stop only at beating up adults but also extended into abusing children. There was always a chill in the air whenever he patrolled the streets, and he was always patrolling. Perhaps if he had stopped for one moment he may have had time to reflect on the monster he had become. Regardless of this man's presence Hermione continued to rant about her revolution.

Rough hands pulled her off the table and she was hastily dragged into a side room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Artemellus shouted whilst shaking Hermione violently. "Do you think Bagarre is going to sit there whilst you scream about yer stupid revolution?"

"You're right… I'm sorry," Hermione stuttered, "I don't know what came over me."

Artemellus let go of Hermione forcefully, causing her to stumble back a little. Rubbing her face with her hands she returned to the main room of the pub. She felt woozy. The alcohol was still swimming in her head and she felt too hot. She made her way outside and breathed the crisp, night air in sharply and felt the chill prick the back of her throat.

"Why were you in the pub?" Hermione shrieked as she saw a man sitting on the pavement barely a metre away from where she stood.

"Excuse me?" She inquired, stepping back as if the man were about to kill her.

"You never struck me as a pub person." Said the man whose face was buried in his thick brown coat.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" She asked fiercely.

"This is the pub, why are you here? You don't live here do you? Oh Merlin, you're married to Artemellus aren't you! Didn't really put him down as your type Granger!" The mysterious man said rather quickly, as if it he were just speaking everything that came to his mind.

"Who are you?" She practically shouted.

"Draco Malfoy!" He practically shouted back.

Hermione's eyes had never been wider. Nor had her mouth been more open. But then she suddenly began to laugh, "Oh how the mighty has fallen, let me take a moment to treasure the fact that Draco Malfoy is poor like the rest of us"

"Shut it Granger, this isn't funny," He said seriously, causing Hermione to lose her smirk a little, "It's hard out there you know, for me,"

"Ugh save me your sob story," Hermione groaned, "It's hard for all for us so be quiet,"

"I see you haven't changed much, still bossy, insensitive and offending," Sneered Draco.

"Neither have you, still a little drama-queen and still trying to get people to pity you. By the way, I am not married to Artemellus, he's my land lord," She said calmly.

"You must be with Weasley then," He concluded.

"No, actually, I'm single,"

"They shouldn't allow you to where a skirt that short," Draco said, changing the subject entirely. Hermione tried to work out if he was attempting to somewhat complement her or insult her, she decided on the latter. As if reading her mind he then said, "That was meant to be an insult by the way. No man should have the burden of having to see that much of your legs,"

"I see you haven't matured in the slightest," Hermione bit back, she couldn't believe that after all these years and all that he had been through with his money being stripped away he was still an insufferable prat.

"Oh, I see you work for the ministry," He said ignoring her comment. His eyes were fixed on the ministry badge pinned to her shirt, "So you're part of the organisation which is ruining everyone's lives?"

"Not any more, they fired me," She said, now almost proudly.

"Wow, for once they actually did something that I approve of!"

"Anyway, I see you hate the ministry just as much as I do,"

"There is no one and nothing I hate more to be honest,"

"Then maybe you can help me,"

"Oh, the almighty Granger wants my help, this is too overwhelming for a Tuesday!" He said in mock shock. "What is it you desire?"

"I want you to help me destroy the ministry."

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